Am I My Brother's Keeper?
Cain asked, "Am I my brother’s keeper?" (Gen. 4:9). Was Jesus Christ His brother’s keeper? Did Jesus take care of His brothers who were in need of clothes, food or shelter? Did He come to the aid of widows in distress? Was He a father to the orphan? Did He give to the poor (John 13:29)? Yes! Jesus was His brother’s keeper.
We, too, are to be our brother’s keeper by imitating Jesus Christ in our daily behavior (1 Cor. 11:1; Eph. 5:1). We are to practice being kind to one another. We are to practice hospitality to one another (1 Peter 4:9). We are to practice godliness toward one another. We are to conform ourselves to godliness by practicing the deeds of Jesus Christ (1 Tim. 4:7).
We are to overcome and put to death our old self by zealously living as Jesus did until He makes us new creatures, complete in Christ (Rev. 2:26; Col. 1:28). We allow Him to do this by striving, persevering and being zealous for doing good deeds in His name because we love Him (Luke 13:24; 21:19; Rev. 3:10; Col. 3:17; John 14:15; 1 John 5:3).
We prove our love for God by serving Him with our whole heart, soul, mind and strength (John 15:8; Luke 10:27; Matt. 22:37). We prove our love for Him by being slaves to righteousness and doing the Will of God from the heart (Rom. 6:13, 18-19; Eph. 6:6). We prove it by the way we live.
Yes, we are our brother’s keeper when we serve our neighbors first, before self (1 Cor. 10:24). One of the main messages in the new covenant of Jesus Christ is serving others (Matt. 20:26-28; 23:11; Mark 9:35; 10:43-45; Luke 9:48; Rom. 15:2-3). Dorcas was used as an example for those who would follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ (Acts 9:36). She was her brother’s keeper because she served others daily for Jesus Christ (Acts 9:39).
Jesus Christ Himself said that only those who have good works will come to a resurrection of life, so don’t you think it is time we start to imitate Him and be our brother’s keeper (John 5:29)? We need to overcome evil by continually doing good, as Jesus said we should (Psalm 34:14; 37:27; Rom. 2:7; 12:21; 1 Peter 3:10-11; Rev. 2:26). Then, when we, like Jesus, live only to do good, we will be living as we should and we will be our brother’s keeper, for either we become our brother’s keeper or we remain of the evil one, like Cain (1 John 3:12).